Our home improvement adventures continued this past week as we had our house painted, inside and out. It was a long overdue task – the outside hadn’t been done close to 20 years, and was looking pretty shabby. The inside was the victim of my fitful stabs at patching and painting over the past four years. Some rooms were entirely painted, others sort of, and then there was the incident of the flat interior paint replaced occasionally by a flat but slightly glossy paint (hey, it was the same color at least!). Some walls vaguely glowed in parts, an odd optical effect. *sigh* Clearly I had and still have no future as a house painter. Age has left me completely bereft of any enthusiasm I might have once harbored for the concept of “do-it-yourself.” After going through the rigamarole of getting estimates, we settled on a local family-owned company. Thet were going to do the job in late September, but had a sudden cancelation of a big job last week, and hey presto! before we knew it, their entire crew of painters descended on the house. As they seemed inclined to drape us and the dog in plastic sheeting if we stayed in one place for too long , we decied to hit the road. Mia went off to spend a few days at a doggy bed and breakfast (but unlike the Fess Parker Doubletree, they offered no pet massages or room service menus, worse luck for her). We headed over to a nearby hotel where we were close enough to supervise but far enough away to not inhale blechy fumes. The painters were so quick we only had one day to lollygag around the hotel’s pool, sadly. But the really big thing we did was to actually have some walls painted in, get this, COLORS!! This was a huge step for me, as I have always been somewhat fearful of the risk that bright colors present (some might call this an extension of my overall fear of commitment). After much sweating over color swatches, we settled on light blue bathrooms, a green office, light yellow in the kitchen and dining room, some light brown in the living room, and terra cotta in the master bedroom. Phew! We had our doubts about this bold departure from conservative blandness, but in the end it all looked fabulous. On the outside we were less inventive and painted it the same color it had been originally (which had gotten so dull over the years that it looks quite new now).

Of course, this being the money pit, we have decided that the walls look so good we need to do something about the icky rugs so are going to lay hardwood floors in the office and living room. Chuck has decided that this is an undertaking he can handle himself. More power to him but as for me, I’m planning a trip somewhere nice for the duration where there is no smell of paint or stain and not a saw or drop cloth in sight.

Pictures of the thrilling colors are here.